The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald is the first English translation of Kormáks saga, one of the Icelanders' sagas and an important example of the medieval skaldic tradition. Set principally in tenth-century Iceland, it relates the turbulent life of the poet and warrior Kormákr Ögmundarson and, in particular, his ill-fated love for Steingerðr, interweaving prose narrative with numerous verses attributed to Kormákr himself. Translated by the artist, antiquary and Norse scholar W. G. Collingwood in collaboration with Jón Stefánsson, this handsome 1902 volume was appropriately issued as No. 1 in the Viking Club Translation Series and is illustrated throughout with drawings inspired by the landscape, archaeology and material culture of the Viking world. The saga belongs to the Old Norse-Icelandic literary tradition that would later become an important scholarly and imaginative influence upon J. R. R. Tolkien and other twentieth-century writers. Viking Club Translation Series - No. 1: The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald being the Icelandic Kormaks Saga, rendered into English by W.G. Collingwood, M.A. Oxon, & Jón Stefánsson, Ph.D., Copenhagen. Published by Wm. Holmes  Ltd., Ulverston, 1902. First edition.  An attractive hardback volume in very good condition. With russet cloth covers and a, elaborate, decorative gilt design to upper board and spine. Covers with light wear and scuffing. Lightly bumped to head and tail of spine. Text is bright and clean. With tissue guarded frontispiece facing decorated title page. Well illustrated. Includes one colour plate. Text in English. (Prelims) +145pp + (2) Publisher's advertisements. Weight approximately 776g. Dimensions: Approximately 234mm high x 181mm wide x 25mm deep.